Module l

The Meaning and Concept of Entrepreneurship

I. Most Essential Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this module, you should be able to:

1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the different concepts of entrepreneurship.
2. Demonstrate understanding of the characteristics and functions of the entrepreneur. 3.
Show the teachings and learning of the great entrepreneurs.
4. Discuss the role of entrepreneurship in economic development

II. OVERVIEW

Definitions of Entrepreneur

The word entrepreneur is borrowed from the French language “entreprendre” which means to “undertake”
or “ undertaking”. The undertaking, to paraphrase what’s in the book, is an adventure to pursue economic
goals.

The entrepreneur is defined as someone who has the ability and desire to establish, administer and succeed
in a startup venture along with risk entitled to it, to make profits. The best example of entrepreneurship is
the starting of a new business venture. The entrepreneurs are often known as a source of new ideas or
innovators, and bring new ideas in the market by replacing old with a new invention.

• According to Joseph A. Schumpeter, an entrepreneur is a person who foresees a potentially profitable

opportunity and tries to exploit it. He is basically an innovator who introduces new combinations. He
makes new things or makes things in a new way . His innovations of this kind may take such forms as
introduction of new goods, introduction of new method of production, opening of a new
market, conquest of a new source of material, etc. He, however, makes a distinction between an
inventor and an innovator. An inventor discovers and finds out new methods or techniques.
Innovators make use of these inventions for commercial purposes. Thus, the innovator applies
to practice the ideas conceived by the inventor.

An innovator is very distinct from the routine manager. A manager more or less looks after day-to-day
routine affairs of an organization. On the other hand, the innovator attempts to change the course of
action to raise production and/or productivity. Thus, the entrepreneur is an innovator, endowed with
an innate ability to innovate something new or do the same in a different manner.

• According to Frank H. Knight, entrepreneurs are a specialized group of persons who bear
uncertainty. Uncertainty is some amount of risk which cannot be ensured against and is
incalculable. So, an entrepreneur is the economic function that undertakes the responsibility
of uncertainty.

• According to McClelland, an entrepreneur is one who likes to take reasonable risk, wants to know
how they can turnout as quickly as possible and has high degree of need for achievement. He is an
individual responsible for the operation of a business including the choice of a project,
the mobilization of necessary capital, decisions or product prices and quantities, the
 employment of labor, and expanding or reducing the productive facilities.

• In economic theory, the entrepreneur is seen as an individual who bears the risk of operating a
business in the face or uncertainty about future conditions and who is rewarded accordingly by
his profits or losses. David Holt defines an entrepreneur as an individual who assumes the risk of
starting a new business, creating a new commercial product or service, and consequently
seeking profitable regard within a free enterprise system.

• Leibenstein defines entrepreneur as an individual or a group of individuals having four major

characteristics – connection of different markets, capability of making up market deficiencies
(gap filling), input completion, and creation and expansion of time defined. An entrepreneur
is one who always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity. The
response to change is innovation.

According to him, innovation is the purposeful and organized search for changes and in the systematic
analysis of the opportunities such changes might offer scope for economic or social innovations. An
entrepreneur makes things happen rather than see things happen. He can thus be expected to have
two sets of skills—venture skills and management skills.

Definitions of Entrepreneurship

• Entrepreneurship refers to the concept of developing and managing a business venture in order
to gain profit by taking several risks in the corporate world. Simply put, entrepreneurship is the
willingness to start a new business. Entrepreneurship has played a vital role in the economic
development of the expanding global marketplace.
• is neither a science nor an art. It is a practice. It has a knowledge base. Knowledge in
entrepreneurship is a means to an end.
• Entrepreneurship refers to the process of activities undertaken by an entrepreneur.

• According to Jeffry. A. Timmons in ‘New Venture Creation, entrepreneurship for the 21st century’
opines “Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking, reasoning, and acting that is opportunity
obsessed, holistic in approach, and leadership balanced for the purpose of value creation and
capture.” “Entrepreneurship results in the creation, enhancement, realization, and renewal of
value, not just for owners, but for all participants and stakeholders. At the heart of the process
is the creation and/or recognition of opportunities, followed by the will and initiative to seize
these opportunities. It requires a willingness to take risks both personal and financial-but in a
very calculated fashion in order to constantly shift the odds of success, balancing the risk with
the potential reward.”

• According to Arthur Cole, “entrepreneurship may be defined in simplest terms as the utilization by
one productive factor of the other productive factors for the creation of economic goods.”
Entrepreneurship -the entrepreneurial function- can be conceptualized as the discovery of
opportunities and the subsequent creation of new economic activity, often via the creation of a
 new organization.

• Entrepreneurship is as a creative activity, the entrepreneur being an innovator, who introduces

something new into the economy, a new method of production not yet tested by experience in
the branch of manufacturing concern, a product with which the consumers are not familiar, a
new source of raw materials or of new market hitherto unexploited.

• Entrepreneurship is therefore a process which incorporates the activities like visualizing, risk
bearing, organizing and establishing a business enterprise. By essence the concept of
entrepreneurship is dynamic. It is totally engrossed with something new, innovative and
novel.

• Entrepreneurship as a dynamic process gets manifested through the endeavours of the

entrepreneurs to bring about new combinations, new products, new production processes,
and establishing of new enterprises.

• Entrepreneurship is a vital constituent that influences the economic growth of a country and
also influences the global competitiveness of the country.

• The process of entrepreneurship involves identification, evaluation and implementation of new

business prospects. The process also involves establishment of new business firms and
enterprises. The innovation also forms an integral part of the process. The process results in
employment generation and improves the living standard of the people and influence the
growth and development of the economy.

• According to A. H. Cole, “entrepreneurship is the purposeful activity of an individual or a group of

associated individuals, undertaken to initiate, maintain or aggrandize profit by production or
distribution of economic goods and services”. The essence of entrepreneurship lies in the
perception and exploitation of new opportunities in the realm of business … it always has to do
with bringing about a different use of national resources in that they are withdrawn from their
traditional employ and subjected to new combinations.”

• The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) defines entrepreneurship as – “Any attempt at new
business or new venture creation, such as self-employment, a new business organization, or the
expansion of an existing business, by an individual, a team of individuals, or an established
business”.

• According to J. Schumpeter, entrepreneurship can be defined as a creative activity, the

entrepreneur being an innovator, who introduces something new into the economy, a new
method of production not yet tested by experience in the branch of manufacturing concern,
a product with which the consumers are not familiar, a new source of raw materials or of
new market hitherto unexploited.

• According to Cole, entrepreneurship is the purposeful activity of an individual or a group of

associated individuals undertaken to initiate, maintain and aggrandise profit by production
or distribution of economic goods and services.
• Entrepreneurship is the process of identifying opportunities in the market, mobilizing the
resources required to pursue these opportunities and investing the resources to exploit the
 opportunities for long term gains. The activity of bringing together the factors of
production (namely labor, land and capital) required for producing goods or services is
called entrepreneurship.

• Entrepreneurship is the inclination (attitude) of mind to take calculated risk with confidence to
achieve a pre-determined business or individual objective.

The above definitions state that entrepreneurship is a goal-oriented process involving production or
distribution of products or services. It may be undertaken by one person or by a group of persons.

• Entrepreneurship refers to the general trend of setting up new enterprises in a society. •

Entrepreneurship is also the process of developing hidden potential in a person to become an
entrepreneur. Traditionally, it was believed that entrepreneurs were born and not made, but
recent studies have proved that entrepreneurship can be developed through creating
opportunities, extending facilities, allowing incentives and by proper training.

• Hence, it can be believed that entrepreneurs are not only born, but they can be made. Entrepreneurship is
not a matter of heritage only, it is with the individuals who respond to external opportunities. An
entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and enjoying most of
the rewards. The entrepreneur is commonly seen as an innovator, a source of new ideas, goods, services,
and business/or procedures.

• Entrepreneurs play a key role in any economy, using the skills and initiative necessary to anticipate needs
and bring good new ideas to market. Entrepreneurs who prove to be successful in taking on the risks of a
startup are rewarded with profits, fame, and continued growth opportunities. Those who fail, suffer
losses and become less prevalent in the markets

What are the characteristics of an Entrepreneur?

To be successful in an entrepreneurship venture, a person needs to possess certain qualities. These are:

Characteristics of Entrepreneurship:

Not all entrepreneurs are successful; there are definite characteristics that make entrepreneurship
successful. A few of them are mentioned below:

• Ability to take a risk (risk-taking ability) Starting any new venture involves a considerable amount of
failure risk. Therefore, an entrepreneur needs to be courageous and able to evaluate and take risks,
which is an essential part of being an entrepreneur.
• Innovation- It should be highly innovative to generate new ideas, start a company and earn profits
out of it. Change can be the launching of a new product that is new to the market or a process that
 does the same thing but in a more efficient and economical way.

• Visionary and Leadership quality- To be successful, the entrepreneur should have a clear vision of his
new venture. However, to turn the idea into reality, a lot of resources and employees are required.
Here, leadership quality is paramount because leaders impart and guide their employees towards the
right path of success.
• Open-Minded-(open-mindedness) In a business, every circumstance can be an opportunity and used
for the benefit of a company. The market is always changing and the opportunities need to be readily
opted for so that the most out of the circumstance can be made.
• Flexible - (flexibility)An entrepreneur should be flexible and open to change according to the situation.
To be on the top, a businessperson should be equipped to embrace change in a product and service,
as and when needed. Customer preference and market trends are not static and thus the product or
service should also be flexible to meet the demands

• Know your Product- (knowledge about the product)A company owner should know the product
offerings and also be aware of the latest trend in the market. It is essential to know if the available
product or service meets the demands of the current market, or whether it is time to tweak it a little.
Being able to be accountable and then alter as needed is a vital part of entrepreneurship.
• Perseverance- Entrepreneurs must be strong-willed and never give up in adverse situations. They must
possess a rock-solid determination to survive and grow.

Importance of Entrepreneurship:

• Creation of Employment- Entrepreneurship generates employment. It provides an entry-level job,

required for gaining experience and training for unskilled workers.
• Innovation- It is the hub of innovation that provides new product ventures, market, technology and
quality of goods, etc., and increase the standard of living of people.
• Impact on Society and Community Development- A society becomes greater if the employment
base is large and diversified. It brings about changes in society and promotes facilities like higher
expenditure on education, better sanitation, fewer slums, a higher level of homeownership.
Therefore, entrepreneurship assists the organization towards a more stable and high quality of
community life.
• Increase Standard of Living- Entrepreneurship helps to improve the standard of living of a person by
increasing the income. The standard of living means, increase in the consumption of various goods
and services by a household for a particular period.
• Supports research and development- New products and services need to be researched and tested
before launching in the market. Therefore, an entrepreneur also dispenses finance for research and
development with research institutions and universities. This promotes research, general
construction, and development in the economy.

History of Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs started from around 20, 000 years back. First trading took place in Guinea in 17, 000 BCE to
exchange Obsidians for required goods.
• Agricultural Revolution: About a millennium ago, trade was done by hunters and gatherers to provide
benefits to their tribes. Moreover, during the Agricultural revolution, the entrepreneurship took a first big
 shift as the people started doing farming about 12, 000 years ago and they produce food more than they
required to sell the remaining in the market.
However, there are some other areas of specialization such as Fishing, Cooking, Tool-making, Shelter-
making and Clothes-making. The expertise increased at a high pace and tricks of the trade was becoming
better and better. It was observed that the town and cities grew and there was an
establishment of religious centres, marketplaces and courts. It gave an opportunity of entrepreneurship to
experts in growing their business.

In the early times of entrepreneurship, people would work in the field of Pottery, Carpentry, Wool-
making and Masonry and the innovation increased in all areas.

• The trade expansion: Apart from the Agricultural revolution, the cities started existence nearby rivers such
as the Nile, the Tigris and Euphrates, the Indus, and the Yellow and Yangtze in 2000BCE. Another
important turn took place in Entrepreneurship here asthey started trade between cities and culturessuch
asthe trade of salt, Chinese paper-making, rice, coffee, lemon, oranges, gunpowder, etc. The trading of
weapons became popular at that time and it was the most successful trade of 2000BCE in the field of
entrepreneurship.

• Introduction of money in the world of Entrepreneurship: During that time, trading took place based on the
barter system and the invention of money is another key element of Entrepreneurship. With the
development of currency in the form of paper money and coinage, it facilitated entrepreneurs to do long
distance trade, fair exchange and store value.
As the marketplaces grew, people started purchasing food, clothes and other things. So, there a huge
development happened because of Entrepreneurship as the small business owners need financial help
and then, there was the establishment of banks and guild system too.

• The beginning of Capitalism: Now, there was a revolution of innovation in Entrepreneurship as the period
gave rise to the paper mill, windmill, mechanical clock, the printing press and the map. Then, the
entrepreneurs started using innovate technologies for the innovation of their business. But here the
theory of mercantilisms introduced and the Entrepreneurs were known as merchants as well as explorers
in 1492. These entrepreneurs of that time were similar to today’s as they raise capital, took risks and
stabilize the economic growth.
Here, capitalism has begun and the gold and silver were introduced. Moreover, the accounting advancement of
accounting advances by Luca Pacioli which created a standard track record for the firm’s account.

• Machines and Marketsin the 1800s: These years were fueled by “Machines and markets”. It paved the way
to Capitalism and the theory of Mercantilism destroyed in the field of entrepreneurship.

• The Industrial Revolution: There was another astounding shift in the history of entrepreneurship as the
people started migrating from the small citiesto the big citiesforlarge-scale production in the 18th
century. The fundamental changes in Entrepreneurship were the availability of energy and labour.

• Entrepreneurship after World War 2: As the economies changed over the globe, so it paved the way for the
entrepreneurs to sell their products and services worldwide through the shipping across the world. During
this period, few companies prospered such as general Electric and aircraft like Lockheed, Holiday Inns and
IBM. Japan became the largest economies in the world.

• Today’s Entrepreneurship: In these days, Entrepreneurship is of paramount importance around the world
and has a great contribution to any nation. The modern infrastructure and communication have made a
new competition in the world of Entrepreneurship.

Relationship between Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Innovation is an element which means to do something new or doing things in new ways. It also comprises of new
methods of production, introduces new products, new market creations a discovery of new industrial
organizations. It has a close relationship with the Entrepreneurship. A business firm always wants to do something
unique to form some changes in the customer’s need and use innovations in all realms of life. The innovation in
any field of business created a vast competition in the market place.

Relationship between Entrepreneurship and Innovation

These two phenomenons are very closely related to each other assome sort of entrepreneurial
behaviourisrequired for innovation. However, the terms are not very similar. Various functions from idea to
innovation and growth are performed by different actors. At the initial stage, ideas are formed by the researchers
and investors but can be only identified by the entrepreneur of any size of the firm.

Moreover, the entrepreneur converts the ideas into innovations and it helps to lower the cost. A crystal clear
relationship between Entrepreneurship and innovation means that the idea of innovation is implemented by an
entrepreneur.

Types of an Entrepreneur

▪ Innovative Entrepreneur: The entrepreneur who is flooded with something new and wants to use
the same for business purposes. This type of entrepreneur is interested in inventive things and
always takes the first step to invest in a different type of research and development.
▪ Imitating Entrepreneur: Such type of Entrepreneurs always tries to mimic others and known as
“copy cats”. They observe the system deeply and replication the same in a better manner.
Through the implementation of various existing technologies, they make improvements in the
products, procedures and create something similar but much better as compared to others. It
can be like the students will become better than the master.
▪ Fabian: These entrepreneurs adopt any type of technology and changes with utmost care and
caution. But they are shy and show laziness while adopting the technologies.
▪ Drone: Such entrepreneurs are opposed to change, so they are considered as “old school”.
Moreover, they always stick to the orthodox methods of production and systems.
Functions of an Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurial Functions: As an entrepreneur of an organization, the person has to perform some of the basic
functions related to his positions. First and the foremost function is to take initiative in every activity that has to be
done in the business and he is always ready to incur any sort of risk related to any investment. Moreover, He has
to build an organization with all their efforts and also bring innovation in the business according to the changing
demand to meet the requirements of the customers. An entrepreneur is the only person who can take such
decisions on behalf of the business.

Managerial Functions: The entrepreneur is doing multi-tasking and starts to plan for the different projects of the
business. Moving further, he is also an integral part of organizing the business, staffing, give direction to all the
employees, controlling all the attached business work, leading the subordinates, supervise every co-worker in their
working and maintains coordination among the employees.

Promotional functions: After the completion of production processes, an entrepreneur has to find out the
different ways to discover some ideas about the promotion of the goods and services they provide to the
customers. Moreover, he has to assemble all the requirements related to the products and services.

Commercial Functions: Entrepreneur should also take care of all the activities related to the commercial area of
the business. The entrepreneur needs to keep an eye over the functions associated with the production,
marketing, personnel as well as accounting of the business.

Financial functions: Entrepreneur is the only person who makes investments in the business whether it is big or
small in amount. He needs to plan all the finances of the business and raise funds according to the requirement of
the business as well as expenses in various areas. However, the utilization of funds is also an essential part of the
business which is also done by the entrepreneur.

Why people do become Entrepreneurs?

There are ample numbers of the reason behind the desire to become an entrepreneur rather than an employee.
Becoming an employee is a traditional approach nowadays and as an entrepreneur, you can decide what you want
to do. But with the uncertainty and risk factor, it comes with the tremendous approach of freedom as well as
accountability.

Here are some of the genuine engenders to become an owner of a business rather than a co-worker of
someone else.

They like to take risks: It is irrefutable the entrepreneurs love risks! Although there are a lot of unexpected risks,
still they have a passion to deal with all the related risks of the business. Their whole life is almost based on
adventures as well as excitement. Moreover, they get goosebumps when they succeed in their goal and
brainstorm new ideas. Moreover, they are always looking for high stake projects because they have enough
confidence to handle and execute it well. It does not matter to them whether these projects will make millions of
bucks or it may be a big failure in their life.

Have enough guts and experience: After getting years of experience and aware of the market conditions, they
decided not to continue with working for others and it’s time to grasp something high on life by establishing own
business. A strong desire in their heart tells them that they have guts as well as big purpose in the globe that
surpasses the idea of being an employee. They want to succeed high in their life and strongly want to control
their destiny.

Admire other Entrepreneurs: A successful person of any industry can also inspire others to do something
blockbuster in their life. They want to get interact with people who have already established their business in
a
very good way and now, they are one of the unbeaten businessmen. They have a feeling that the next million
dollar idea can come from their mind and change the lives of millions of people.
They get frustrated from bounds: A flexible lifestyle has a lot of hype but the reality is that Entrepreneurship is not
a shortcut that you can start a business and can touch the great heights of success in the very first run. However, it
needs a lot of efforts to get victory in the field of business and hard work too. Moreover, there is a lot of flexibility
in the area of Entrepreneurship as compared to the monotonous job routine of nine to five job.

They have inventive ideas: A level of imagination and a dash of insanity is a must for working as an Entrepreneur.
They are out of those people who can change the world by their creative and imaginative ideas as they distinctively
see the world as not as it is. They do have genius ideas like Wright Brothers, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and others. All
these personalities have a knack in their mind to change the world with a new advancement and make some
unique developments.

Wants freedom at all: The level of freedom everyone wants is a normal fact but the freedom that the
Entrepreneur is seeking for is full freedom to do anything. Moreover, if you want freedom from work, then
Entrepreneurship is not your cup of tea. The person who wants creative freedom can go for this field as it means to
do something on your own professional and not being free all the time for fun.

Financial Success: Everyone needs a better life flooded with luxurious things and this can easily be achieved by
becoming an entrepreneur. However, it is hard to get to that level of financial success in a couple of days but it is a
motivational factor that can easily push up anyone to indulge in business. They can achieve their success and
financial security too.

The Entrepreneurial Process

The stages of entrepreneurial development are not easy to understand and happen to begin a business firm. There
is a difference between the person who just says things that are needed to happen for starting a business and
others who did the same. So, a huge distinction between the action of a person and what a person thinks about.
One step at a time can be developed in the entrepreneurial stages while some continue with the existing lifestyle.

The person who has an entrepreneurial culture, as well as spirit, can think to take a step ahead to get closer to the
goal. Although it is a long-term procedure the results are though fruitful. Here are some of the stages for the
entrepreneurial process.

Idea Generation: The entrepreneur tries to find out why the particular service is not available and how to make
improvements in certain things by generating income to pay for the expenses. Thousands of ideas arise and it will
create a lot of opportunities to fulfill the needs of the market. It is required to search for information and market
analysis to look for the chances of success. A number of people generate ideas to start a business but when it
comes to implementing all the ideas, they take their step back. It is not easy to commence business by just getting
ideas as it takes a lot of potentials.

Decision Making and Business Planning: The decision to start a project is a crucial point in the process of
entrepreneurial. The two factors to land all the ideas for an entrepreneur are activeness and motivation. Ask what
material is needed and where to take all these as it is vital to get the information about the project. The
development of a proper plan can be done to have a guide with you all the time.

A Model of the Entrepreneurial Process

Project Creation: When the entrepreneur decided to obtain resources, then the project is conducted. Finance
is one of the major problems that creates hurdle in the commencement of the business. The initial step of
investment and operating all the ideas is a stress buster for the entrepreneur as it is the beginning of
the company.
Management and Control: Within the first few months, the company can see whether they increase, decrease or
maintain stability in sales. The main motive of an entrepreneur is to maximize the revenue instead of
concentrating on the infrastructure of the office. It is troublesome to manage the entire business but as time goes
on, it becomes easy for the owner to manage the business as well as resources.

Well, the entrepreneurial process ends here but it is no longer an entrepreneur and now, he or she becomes a
full businessman or businesswoman.

Top 20 Entrepreneurs
JEFF BEZOS

(full name is Jeffrey Preston Bezos) is an American entrepreneur, world’s richest investor and also a philanthropist
who graduated from Princeton University.

is the founder of Amazon which is the largest eCommerce marketplace used by millions of customers

worldwide Lesson: Start small, grow big

His famous quote: A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do
to do hard things well.

BILL GATES

William Henry Gates (popularly known as Bill Gates) is an American business magnate, investor, author and
philanthropist. He is the founder of Microsoft foundation which he launched along with Paul Allen in 1975.

Bill Gates is one of the world’s richest persons, from 1995 to 2017, Bill Gates held the Forbes title of the richest
person in the world all but 4 of those years. He also is known for his philanthropist activities such as Melinda
Foundation and his current net worth is over $120 billion dollars.

Famous quote: If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good

Lesson: Be your own boss and start early: One of the primary reasons Bill Gates had huge success because he
started early. Whether you know it or not, he was only 13 years old when he started working with computers.

Yes, he had that passion towards computers at the early age and that’s what helped him to achieve massive
success in the later years to start Microsoft.

MARK ZUCKERBERG

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American technology entrepreneur and philanthropist who studied at Harvard
University and he is one of the richest persons on the planet right now who has an estimate net worth of over
$101 billion dollars.

He’s the ONLY person under 50 in the Forbes ten richest people list and also the only one under 40 in the “Top 20
Billionaires” list. His social networking company Facebook has over 2.7 billion active users monthly!
Facebook is undoubtedly the #1 social media platform used by everyone including students to marketers to
leaders from all over the world.

famous quote: “The biggest risk is not taking any risk… in a world that is changing really quickly, the
only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks”

Lesson: Don’t chase money: Mark Zuckerberg never seemed to acquire wealth. Here’s what he said once: “My
goal was never to just create a company. A lot of people misinterpret that as if I don’t care about revenue or profit
or any of those things. But what not being ‘just’ a company means to me is building something that actually makes
a really big change in the world.” Money comes as a by-product. Don’t chase money, instead, focus on creating an
amazing product (or service) that improves the lives of others.

LARRY PAGE AND SERGEY BRIN

Lawrence Edward Page (commonly known Larry Page) is an American entrepreneur who co-founded Google with
Sergey Brin.

Sergey Mikhaylovich Brin (popularly known as Sergey Brin) is also an American entrepreneur and investor who’s
partnered up with Larry Page to launch Google which was founded back in 1997 September 15th.

Larry Page is currently the CEO of Alphabet (which is a Google’s parent company) and he has a net worth of over
$78 billion dollars.

Sergey Brin is currently the President of Alphabet who has a net worth of over $75.9 billion

dollars. Famous quotes:

1. “We do lots of Stuff. The only way you are going to have success is to have lots of failures first.” — Sergey Brin

2. “Always deliver more than expected” – Larry

Lesson: Invention and marketing are the keys to success.

RICHARD BRANSON

Richard Branson holds the Virgin group and ranks 8th among wealthiest British billionaires by net worth. He’s also
the first and only person to cross the Atlantic in the largest hot air balloon. He, later on, broke his own record by
crossing pacific in a Virgin hot air balloon.

famous quote: Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one

coming. Lesson learned: Enjoy what you do:

Richard Branson enjoys his work and he parties hard. Whether you know it or not, he owns 2 private islands, one
he rents out and the other island which is known as nectar island where he parties along with the celebrities
including Mariah Carey, Kate Winslet, Oprah, David Beckham and so on.

He’s known for taking risks and he really enjoys what he does. Here’s the business advice from Branson.

“Entrepreneurship is not about getting over customers. It’s not about working on your own. It’s not about looking
out for number one. It’s not necessarily about making a lot of money. On the contrary, it’s about turning what
excites you in life into capital, so that you can do more of it and move forward
STEVE JOBS
Steven Paul Jobs (popularly known as Steve Jobs) was an American entrepreneur and investor. If you’re using
smartphones especially an iPhone, you probably know who Steve Jobs is!

Steve Jobs was the chairman, CEO and co-founder of Apple Inc which is now worth over $2 trillion dollars (yes you
heard it right) and it’s also considered as one of the Big Four of technology along with Amazon, Google, and
Facebook.

Steve Jobs was also the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar, which is an American computer animation film
studio founded in 1986.

famous quote: Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which
is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own
inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already
know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. – Steve Jobs

lesson: Put a dent in the universe: Here’s what Steve Jobs meant when he said: “put a dent in the universe”. The
“dent” is leaving your own mark and impacting the lives of the people in our universe, even if that change may be
as small as just a “dent”.

LARRY ELLISON
Lawrence Joseph Ellison (commonly known as Larry Ellison) is an American entrepreneur who is the co-founder of
Oracle Corporation.

famous quote : If you do everything that everyone else does in business, you’re going to lose. The only way to
really be ahead is to ‘be different’.

Lesson: Have a clear vision: One of the key factors that differentiate a leader from others is this: : they all have a
clear vision. A successful leader is one who is always thinking about the future, not just the present.

Larry Ellison had a clear vision and that’s the reason why Oracle is still one of the leading software companies
which were actually started way back in 1977. Today the company does 40+ billion dollars in annual sales and has a
market cap of over 182 billion dollars. Yes, you heard it right.

RITESH AGARWAL
Ritesh Agarwal is the founder of OYO Rooms which is India’s largest hospitality company that mostly offers budget
friendly accommodation with all kinds of neatness and safety features and it was founded in 2013.

famous quote:Start small, nail it and then make it big.

Lesson: Find the RIGHT mentor

VIJAY SHEKHAR SHARMA

Have you heard about PayTm? If you’re an Indian, chances are you’ll be mostly using it and if you’re not, just
Googling the word “PayTm” tells you how popular it is in India. PayTm (Pay Through Mobile) is India’s biggest
eCommerce payment system which also offers digital wallet which was founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

Although the Paytm Payments Bank (which literally revolutionized the payment industry) is a separate entity in
which founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma will hold 51% share, One97 Communications holds 39% and 10% will be held
by a subsidiary of One97 and Vijay.
Famous quote: If you’re not the customer, don’t build it – Vijay Shekhar

Lesson: Look for the opportunities: If you want to be successful, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, sometimes
you just need to look for the opportunities and do better than anyone else. That’s what Vijay did with PayTm.

ELON MUSK
How can we curate the list without including the REAL Iron Man Elon Musk himself?

Elon ReeveMusk is a technology entrepreneur and also an engineer who holds multiple citizenships including
South Africa, Canada and U.S. and famously known for SpaceX.

Elon Musk is an all-rounder entrepreneur who was the co-founder of the famous online payment system PayPal.
He is currently the founder, CEO, and lead designer of SpaceX, co-founder, CEO, and product architect of Tesla,
founder of The Boring Company.

Famous quote: When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor – Elon

Musk Lesson: Take risks: Elon Musk is someone who’s famous for taking risks.

What would you do if you had around $200 million by selling a company? Most of us would think that we’re
settled in life, buy a big mansion including expensive cars, travel around the world, sit back and relax for the rest of
our lives, right?

Here’s where the Elon Musk stands out from the crowd by taking risks. There’s one quote that sums it up all when
Elon said “My proceeds from the PayPal acquisition were $180 million. I pu* Entrepreneurship: “It is important to
view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree: make sure you understand the fundamental principles – the trunk and
big branches – before you get into the leaves/details, or there is nothing for them to hang on to.”

STEVE BALLMER
Steven Anthony Ballmer is an American billionaire entrepreneur and investor who worked as the CEO of Microsoft
from 2000 to 2014.

Steve Ballmer is one of the most famous entrepreneurs today who’s graduated from Harvard University in 1977
and currently the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He’s also one of the richest persons in the world having a net worth of over 71 billion

dollars. Famous quote:

The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets
people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn’t think they could learn
before, and so in a sense, it is all about potential. – Steve Ballmer

Lesson:

Be brutally honest: When Satya Nadella, the current CEO of Microsoft asked Ballmer “What do you think? How am
I doing?”, to which Ballmer said: “Look, you will know it, I will know it, and it will be in the air. So you don’t have to
ask me, ‘How am I doing?’ At your level, it’s going to be fairly implicit.”

MUKESH AMBANI
Mukesh Ambani is an Indian business mogul and billionaire entrepreneur having a net worth of over 74 billion
dollars. During the pandemic Covid-19, Mukesh Ambani raised more than $20 billion selling 1/3rd of Jio to
investors including Facebook and Google.
Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani is the greatest businessman of all time who’s the chairman and managing director of
Reliance Industries which is a Fortune Global 500 company.

His company Reliance Industries deals in various sectors including petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecom, and retail.
Reliance was initially founded by his late father Dhirubhai Ambani in 1966.

Famous quote: A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard
things well.

Lesson: Disrupt the industry: Ambani disrupted the Indian telecom provider category by introducing Jio (which is
now the #1 Indian telecommunications company). He introduced Jio by offering HUGE discounts on data and also
provided unlimited calls to any network for free.

Due to this disruptive innovation, all the other competitors like Airtel, Vodafone started to lower their prices.
Many Indian smartphone users are thankful to Ambani for this disruptive innovation of Jio.

If you want to reach millions of people in your industry, find ways to disrupt the market and pick a profitable niche.
Find out how you can provide HUGE value at lower prices to reach massive people across the world.

OPRAH WINFREY
Oprah Winfrey is an American talk show host called “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. She’s also a billion-dollar
television producer, actress, author of several best-selling books including “What I Know For Sure”.

Oprah Winfrey is a billionaire philanthropist and an African-American woman who is best known for hosting “The
Oprah Winfrey Show” and it was the #1 talk show for 24 consecutive seasons since 1986.

Lesson:

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will
never, ever have enough.

Famous quote: Your personal brand matters a lot: Millions of people watch “The Oprah Winfrey Show” because
of Oprah. She hustled from childhood and built a billion-dollar fortune from scratch.

She is also often described as the most influential woman in the world because of her charisma and
personal brand.

JACK DORSEY
Jack Dorsey is the founder of the popular social media network Twitter which was launched in

2006. Who is Jack Dorsey?

Jack Patrick Dorsey is an American entrepreneur who is the co-founder and CEO of Twitter with a net worth of over
12 billion dollars.

He’s also the founder and CEO of Square which is a financial payments company that’s used by millions of people
to start, run, and grow their businesses.

Here’s the famous quote by Jack Dorsey

Everyone has an idea, but it’s really about executing the idea and attracting other people to help you with the idea.
What can you learn from Jack Dorsey?

Think about what the world uses everyday: Millions of people use Twitter every single day. From the US
presidents to almost all the Hollywood actors, top politicians, world leaders – everyone uses Twitter.
Twitter is exceptionally easy to use. Jack knew what the world really wants as everyone has fewer attention spans
so he created a micro-blogging network called Twitter where users can interact with others using “Tweets”.

If you want to become a successful entrepreneur like Jack Dorsey, be visionary and create something that
everyone can use.

RAYMOND THOMAS DALIO (Aka Ray Dalio)

Ray Dalio is a hedge fund manager and author of the best-selling book “The Principles: Life and

Work”. Who is Raymond Thomas Dalio?

Raymond Thomas Dalio (popularly known as Ray Dalio) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager and
philanthropist who founded Bridgewater in 1975 and it is the world’s largest hedge fund.

Here’s the famous quote by Raymond Thomas Dalio

Imagine that in order to have a great life you have to cross a dangerous jungle. You can stay safe where you are
and have an ordinary life, or you can risk crossing the jungle to have a terrific life. How would you approach that
choice? Take a moment to think about it because it is the sort of choice that, in one form or another, we all have to
make.

― Ray Dalio, from his book “Principles: Life and Work”

What can you learn from Raymond Thomas Dalio?

Teach everything you know: Ray Dalio is a billionaire and he shared all his secrets and strategies to build
successful businesses in his book “Principles”. This book tells the story of Ray Dalio’s career and explains his
approach to life using principles that affect everything he does.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you should definitely grab a copy of his book “Principles” and try to implement those
principles in your life and business to succeed.

Once you’ve built a successful career, follow his path, and teach everything you learned along the way to success.
It not only helps others to succeed but it gives you a sense of “fulfillment and satisfaction”.

Advantages of Entrepreneurship

Sense of Responsibility: It is not only the responsibility of the entire business is in your hands but also the
paycheck too. When it comes to match and find differences between the expenses and revenues, then everything
is the responsibility of the owner only. You never pay salary to the employees with low or unstable income and it
makes you frustrated. Even, you can pay easily, still, there is a kind of headache on mind every time.

Risk: The well-known fact is that business is nothing without risk. Whenever you make an investment in any
project or products or services, then there is always some risk attached to it whether it is low or high but it
is. Moreover, all your savings, time as well as efforts are on the risk for the business only.

Loads of work: As we all know, an entrepreneur is an innovator, and a hustler too. It takes too much effort to
start with a new business and achieve great heights of success. At the beginning of the business, you have to do
all the work as you can trust yourself or you don’t have that much budget to appoint a special person. It is a tough
task for a single person to handle all the grunt work and sometimes it seems like exhausting.
Competition: In the business sector, the sharks are everywhere, especially the huge and well-known firms. It
becomes sometimes difficult to differentiate your business from other industries. Moreover, it is required to plan
something innovative and unique in the business, so that it can grasp the attention of the customers at the first
look.
Working Schedule: The firm is yours and you are the only owner who is responsible for the failure as well as the
achievement of the business. So, the working schedule of an entrepreneur is always not predictable. It is necessary
to work for longer hours and late nights at the beginning of the company.

Maximize Stress: An entrepreneur preoccupied with a lot of worries all the time. The stress is about
the uniqueness and how to succeed in their business with greater profitability.

Other limitations: Being an Entrepreneur is a daunting task as it requires a number of sleepless late nights and
lonely weekends to get success in this field. It becomes a challenge for a person and is very opposite to reality.

Overall, Entrepreneurship is a double-edged weapon, with pros and cons at the same time. But it is up to a
person how it takes the concept. Be passionate about what you want to do and not a single list of cons will stop
you from doing so.

Role of Entrepreneurship in Economic Development

1. Wealth Creation and Sharing: By establishing the business entity, entrepreneurs invest their own resources and
attract capital (in the form of debt, equity, etc.) from investors, lenders and the public. This mobilizes public wealth
and allows people to benefit from the success of entrepreneurs and growing businesses. This kind of pooled capital
that results in wealth creation and distribution is one of the basic imperatives and goals of economic development.

2. Create Jobs: Entrepreneurs are by nature and definition job creators, as opposed to job seekers. The simple
translation is that when you become an entrepreneur, there is one less job seeker in the economy, and then you
provide employment for multiple other job seekers. This kind of job creation by new and existing businesses is
again is one of the basic goals of economic development. This is why the Govt. of India has launched initiatives
such as StartupIndia to promote and support new startups, and also others like the Make in India initiative to
attract foreign companies and their FDI into the Indian economy. All this in turn creates a lot of job opportunities,
and is helping in augmenting our standards to a global level.

3. Balanced Regional Development: Entrepreneurs setting up new businesses and industrial units help with
regional development by locating in less developed and backward areas. The growth of industries and business in
these areas leads to infrastructure improvements like better roads and rail links, airports, stable electricity and
water supply, schools, hospitals, shopping malls and other public and private services that would not otherwise be
available.

Every new business that locates in a less developed area will create both direct and indirect jobs, helping lift
regional economies in many different ways. The combined spending by all the new employees of the new
businesses and the supporting jobs in other businesses adds to the local and regional economic output. Both
central and state governments promote this kind of regional development by providing registered MSME
businesses various benefits and concessions.

4. GDP and Per Capita Income: India’s MSME sector, comprised of 36 million units that provide employment for
more than 80 million people, now accounts for over 37% of the country’s GDP. Each new addition to these 36
million units makes use of even more resources like land, labor and capital to develop products and services that
add to the national income, national product and per capita income of the country. This growth in GDP and per
capita income is again one of the essential goals of economic development.

5. Standard of Living: Increase in the standard of living of people in a community is yet another key goal of
economic development. Entrepreneurs again play a key role in increasing the standard of living in a community.
They do this not just by creating jobs, but also by developing and adopting innovations that lead to improvements
in the quality of life of their employees, customers, and other stakeholders in the community. For example,
automation that reduces production costs and enables faster production will make a business unit more
productive, while also providing its customers with the same goods at lower prices.
6. Exports: Any growing business will eventually want to get started with exports to expand their business to
foreign markets. This is an important ingredient of economic development since it provides access to bigger
markets, and leads to currency inflows and access to the latest cutting-edge technologies and processes being
used in more developed foreign markets. Another key benefit is that this expansion that leads to more stable
business revenue during economic downturns in the local economy.

7. Community Development: Economic development doesn’t always translate into community development.
Community development requires infrastructure for education and training, healthcare, and other public services.
For example, you need highly educated and skilled workers in a community to attract new businesses. If there are
educational institutions, technical training schools and internship opportunities, that will help build the pool of
educated and skilled workers.

A good example of how this kind of community development can be promoted is Azim Hashim Premji, Chairman of
Wipro Limited, who donated Rs. 27,514 crores for promoting education through the Azim Premji Foundation. This
foundation works with more than 350,000 schools in eight states across India.

So, there is a very important role for entrepreneurs to spark economic development by starting new businesses,
creating jobs, and contributing to improvement in various key goals such as GDP, exports, standard of living, skills
development and community development.

III. LEARNING OUTCOMES

IV. SUMMARY
An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and enjoying most
of the rewards. The entrepreneur is commonly seen as an innovator, a source of new ideas, goods, services, and
business/or procedures.

Entrepreneurs play a key role in any economy, using the skills and initiative necessary to anticipate needs and bring
good new ideas to market. Entrepreneurs who prove to be successful in taking on the risks of a startup are
rewarded with profits, fame, and continued growth opportunities. Those who fail, suffer losses and become less
prevalent in the markets.

V. EVALUATION

1. Choose a Filipino Entrepreneur.

a. Tell his or her story. How are you inspired by the story?
b. What are the lessons that you learned from his/her story?
c. What are the characteristics that seem similar to you?
2. List down 10 entrepreneurial competencies that you need to have to become successful. Discuss.